A few years ago the ZIM outfitters only wanted newer $100.00 bills.
Now they came out with another style. Which will they want now??
Planning in taking a few to DSC and don't want to take the new ones if they wont be able to use them when they return to ZIM.

If they don't want US Dollars--that would be their problem-

1. it's NEW legal usd
2. if they don't want to take it find another outfittter

Chris

What they probably were referring to and are looking for is USD Bills that are 2006 and newer.

Plus USD Bills Meeting the following conditions:
1. no tears
2. no writing on the bills
3. no marks on the bills

What i did was have the bank look for me over a period of time to find the bill i requested. It took them 3 weeks to obtain the bills needed and then we went through the stack bill by bill to take out and replace the ones not meeting the following criteria. This was about 1 hour of teller time. I could have ordered in the money however it would have been at a cost to me. I have always felt that if you do this a few months prior to leaving you will have the time to take and go through the money yourself.

As Zimbabwe is using USD as there currency, they like all denominations.

My PH wanted some 1's - 5's - 10's - 20's - 50's and 100's. I was in contact with my PH prior to my trip and what was not prepaid i brought mostly a bunch of smaller bills to make the final settlement.

all my tips were in 1's - 5's & 10's. The money that they would use to purchase something.

quote:

Originally posted by Chris Lozano:
A few years ago the ZIM outfitters only wanted newer $100.00 bills.
Now they came out with another style. Which will they want now??
Planning in taking a few to DSC and don't want to take the new ones if they wont be able to use them when they return to ZIM.

quote:

Originally posted by Chris Lozano:
A few years ago the ZIM outfitters only wanted newer $100.00 bills.
Now they came out with another style. Which will they want now??
Planning in taking a few to DSC and don't want to take the new ones if they wont be able to use them when they return to ZIM.

The problem is that many African countries issue new bills every several years, and when they do there is a fairly short timeframe in which you can exchange your old bills for the newly issued ones. Once that time is up the old bills are worthless(I don't know the reasoning behind this, but TIA).

I was in Zambia in 2008 and I believe we had just started going to the "Funny Bills" with the off-centered portraits. I think this was the second revision of the look of our bills that decade. Anyway, there was a rumor in Zambia that the older bills were no longer legal tender so the street money changers did not want to accept them(can you blame them?). This meant that you had to go to the bank and change them at the less favorable "official rate".

In the end it was simply MUCH easier and economically sound to have the most current edition of our bills.

I just returned from Zim a couple of weeks ago. I took the new $100's for tips and to pay the Bed and Breakfast bill on the front end of the trip. I also used these to purchase the entry Visa for myself and my wife (used in an official government tender exchange). I had no problems using the new bills whatsoever, but I was a bit concerned when I first picked them up at the bank.

quote:

Originally posted by Bwana338:
Chris

What they probably were referring to and are looking for is USD Bills that are 2006 and newer.

Plus USD Bills Meeting the following conditions:
1. no tears
2. no writing on the bills
3. no marks on the bills

What i did was have the bank look for me over a period of time to find the bill i requested. It took them 3 weeks to obtain the bills needed and then we went through the stack bill by bill to take out and replace the ones not meeting the following criteria. This was about 1 hour of teller time. I could have ordered in the money however it would have been at a cost to me. I have always felt that if you do this a few months prior to leaving you will have the time to take and go through the money yourself.

As Zimbabwe is using USD as there currency, they like all denominations.

My PH wanted some 1's - 5's - 10's - 20's - 50's and 100's. I was in contact with my PH prior to my trip and what was not prepaid i brought mostly a bunch of smaller bills to make the final settlement.

all my tips were in 1's - 5's & 10's. The money that they would use to purchase something.

quote:

Originally posted by Chris Lozano:
A few years ago the ZIM outfitters only wanted newer $100.00 bills.
Now they came out with another style. Which will they want now??
Planning in taking a few to DSC and don't want to take the new ones if they wont be able to use them when they return to ZIM.

The minute an outfitter tells me he wants particular bills, he sure is not going to get my business.

I get my US$ from the bank, and as far as I am concerned, they are all legal tender.

Funny thing this happened to me at Dar airport this year.

I was buying some gifts at the airport, and the man behind the counter did not want to accept one of the bank notes I gave him - they were in US$.

I told him to give the lot, and I am going to another shop.

He did, then was talking to his partner to a language I did not understand, then he called me back.

I smiled and left.

I used the same money in another shop without any hassle.

Saeed,
We appreciate the support. I feel as you do - take it or leave it.

quote:

Originally posted by dogcat:
Saeed,
We appreciate the support. I feel as you do - take it or leave it.

Just seen the new bills now for the first time, I think they will be paying my beer bills in the US this February.

They will get what I take. I'm not into sorting bills for any of them. I had one PH tell me, after I had arrived and hunted, that he wanted only new bills and no "used" ones. I asked him if he wanted to get paid or not. End of story.

When I was in Zambia in 2011, shoping for gifts at the local bazar in Lusaka, they only wanted $100.00 bills after a certain serial number on the bill. I was told the reason was because of counterfiting. It seemed bills of a certain serial number range had been counterfited throughout the country.

I have seen this all over the world. I do not understand it but I try and comply if I am warned ahead of time. Most of us can walk into a bank and they will assist us with our odd requests in a timely manner (new bills, no tears, no writing, etc.). In some countries getting this "damaged or old" money exchanged is harder than getting a law passed by the government.

Counterfeiting US bills, especially $100s, is endemic overseas. One can hardly blame a non-US citizen for wanting the latest issued anti-counterfeiting bills. They are created by the US Treasury especially for that reason.

There are BILLIONS of dollars in fake $100s all over the world. I can certainly appreciate the concern of someone about the legitimacy of the bills. Personally, I think any US citizen who would not go to the trouble of getting the newest bills to help alleviate the concerns of non-US receivers of US $100 bills is way too proud of themselves.

If someone finds themselves in need of local funds and the local "changerie" won't take their bills, I would bet they will regret their attitude of "my way or the highway."

Gato,

It is easy for you to get specific dollar notes in the US, just as we can get our own currency any way we wish.

But, getting foreign currency notes to order in another country is another matter.

Sometimes we cannot get specific denominations of certain currencies, let alone asking the bank to get you only certain serial numbers.

I have had issues with older bils in Tanzania. even official money changers give a lower rate. No problem getting good USD bills from S&C bank in Dar. I once changed some late model USD of mine for some US tourists older bills that the money changer would not change, knowing i could change them out in the bush ok.

Cheers Chris

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Gato,

It is easy for you to get specific dollar notes in the US, just as we can get our own currency any way we wish.

But, getting foreign currency notes to order in another country is another matter.

Sometimes we cannot get specific denominations of certain currencies, let alone asking the bank to get you only certain serial numbers.

That's why I specified US citizen. I really should have been more specific and said US residents.

Guys,

Have to agree with Gatogordo. In a number of coutries I've been told that reluctance to take certain notes is totally about conterfeiting. This includes Traveler's Checques also. If an outfitter tells you he can only accept X,Y,Z, notes its not because he is trying to be a pain it is because he may not be able to use certain notesd in him country.

Mark

+1- don't blame the PH/Outfitter because he simply can't bank the money you give him. i am sure he wishes it were otherwise!

I always take the latest version of US currency with me when I travel to Africa.
It takes a little time to sort thru bills at the bank, but this is easily done ahead of my departure whenever convenient.

Overseas especially, the counterfeiters are a problem that seem to be getting better in their craft - look at the security measures being introduced in our bills. That costs us.

Any effort to fight back against these chumps printing fake USD is worthwhile.

The new US $ 100 bils are in circulation in Zim so no problem with those.

Regards

Like a bunch of us I have been all around the world and I have never bumped in to this. Yeah they don't usually want the old worn out and ragged money, but that is not what I leave with anyway.

One thing is, heck these guys we are hunting with know us. They know we aren't giving them counterfeit bills.


If they have some issues with it, not only have I never seen it, but they ought to be more comfortable with these new bills as they are hard to counterfeit as that is why they were made supposedly.

I don't much know about all of that serial number thing either. I darn sure am not doing that. And many of the bills have that marking on them as every shop everywhere even in the airport and hot dog stand has those markers that they use on the monies.

I am not blaming anybody. If it is going to come to that, then we will just find another way to do what is required. But there is about a 99% chance I am not doing this to some nth degree. And the odds are a bit higher that they take the money .

It should be noted that there are many African country's that USD are left at.

I did not mention the counterfeiting in my earlier post. As that is a known.

If one were to check with your local banker you will find that large bills were not made every year. I think from 2006 to 2012 the bills were produced in only 3 of those years.

The reason for the Large bills being wanted is that it will receive the best exchange rate.

In Zimbabwe they use USD for there currency and are always looking for new smaller bill to pay the worker and staff.

In Tanzania the exchange rate for New $100 was better than for a new $20.

I also have left shops in Tanzania that would not take new USD bills.

Also in the field i did exchange Older bills from the camp staff for some new bill that i had with me.

In Namibia the older bill were no issue.

And since i have learned to take newer than 2006 bills i have never had an issue. It is something one learns and plans for.

Like tried to indicate i try to have my money ahead of time and am currently working on USD and Rands bills for my 2014 trip to South Africa.

As many have addressed there are many different pieces of the pie to make a successful safari and money is one of the pieces.

quote:

If one were to check with your local banker you will find that large bills were not made every year. I think from 2006 to 2012 the bills were produced in only 3 of those years.

If you will check with the US Mint, you will find that well over a billion (on average)US $100 bills were made EACH year from 2006 until now. There were 3 years that $50, which are not commonly used, were not made in that period, 2006, 08, and 10.

In 2013 the Mint delivered 26 MILLION bills per day, of all denominations. That's rolling those presses.

^^^^^

That is a lot.

No wonder our money is worth less and less all the time.

According to the Mint, which one can believe or not......over 90% of the notes produced are used to replace worn out notes. Between the Dallas and Washington mints, they used 9.6 TONS of ink per day last year. A dollar bill wears out, on average, in just under 6 years and a $100 bill lasts about 15. Current $100 bills cost over 12 cents to make, about twice that of a $1 bill.

I are a numismus....numushmi.....ah, hell, I collect coins.

It's all about counterfeiting.

Complain to high heaven, but it's just the way it is and there's no changing it.

Just to be clear, the Mint makes U.S. coins. It is the Bureau of Printing and Engraving which makes the paper currency.

I read one time that over 63% of all $100 bills are outside the USA and the biggest counterfeiters are China, Korea and Iran.
These are not individuals but the governments counterfeiting.
How can we ever win.
Maybe pay in rolled pennies
Larry